{getMailchimp} $title={MailChimp Form} $text={Subscribe to our mailing list to get the new updates.}

Gunfire hits Abidjan, Bouake and San Pedro amid mutiny

An empty street in Bouake, Ivory Coast's second-largest city, on Sunday [Reuters]
Gunfire has erupted in several cities in Ivory Coast, according to witnesses, as the military presses an operation aimed at ending a mutiny by soldiers demanding bonus payments.

Shots have been heard in the east of the commercial capital, Abidjan, and frequent gunfire reported by residents of Ivory Coast's second largest city, Bouake.

Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idris, reporting from Abidjan on Monday, said gunfire broke out around noon at a military camp in the port city of San Pedro.
 
"There were shootings in the army camp there," he said.

"Now we are hearing that the mutineers are seizing official four by fours, and asking civilians to stay home. 

This is the third city where gunfire was heard today … it looks like things are spreading fast."

Heavy shooting was also heard in Daloa, a hub for the western cocoa-growing regions.

Many businesses and schools have closed operations in Abidjan for fear of worsening unrest, and APBEF, Ivory Coast's banking association, has decided to shutter all banks.

"There is this fear all over Ivory Coast that unless somebody gives in, things will escalate - who knows where it will all lead to?" our correspondent said.

The mutineers often fire in the air to express their anger over the non-payment of bonuses.

"I've been hearing the sound of Kalashnikovs and a heavier weapon," an Abidjan resident who lives near the US embassy and the presidential residence told Reuters news agency.

"That began at around 5am (05:00 GMT) and it's lasted an hour. It's intense."

Reuters quoted a Bouake resident as saying: "There was heavy shooting at the northern entrance to the city and in the city centre. It's calmed a bit but we're still hearing gunfire."

A second Bouake resident confirmed the shooting.

On Sunday six people were wounded by gunfire in Bouake and one of three protesters shot and wounded there the previous day died of his wounds.

Mutiny over bonus

The unrest comes as authorities conduct a military operation "to re-establish order" after soldiers who staged a mutiny on Friday over bonus payments rejected he army's demand to disarm.

The mutineers, most of them former rebel fighters who fought to bring President Alassane Ouattara to power, had sealed off Bouake and used gunfire to break up protests against the revolt, which began when a spokesman for the group dropped demands for extra pay promised by the government during negotiations to end a previous mutiny in January.

On Sunday loyalist troops were deployed to Bouake and a delegation was sent in to meet leaders of the mutineers.

However, "negotiations ... to convince the mutineers to lay down their weapons have failed and the situation remains tense", Al Jazeera's Idris reported on Monday.

"The situation is dangerous in terms of what will happen if a full-blown confrontation erupts between loyal forces and mutineers -  the civilian population will be caught in the crossfire."

Under a deal negotiated with the government in January, the soldiers were to be paid bonuses of 12m CFA francs (18,000 euros) each, with an initial payment of five million francs that month.

The 8,400 mutineers were due to get the rest of the sum this month.

But the government has struggled to make the payment, with a budget hit by the collapse in the price of cocoa, Ivory Coast's main export.

Last year, the government unveiled an ambitious plan to modernise the 22,000 strong military, part of which would involve the departure of several thousand men, particularly  former rebels, who will not be replaced.


Al Jazeera and news agencies

No comments

Your comments and Encouragement are welcome